Wizards for Hire (Darth Pai & Nyte)

[Sen Pai]

Spoiler

Name: Erica Cale


➣ she has no nicknames


Age: 30


➣ she was born on October 21st


Description:


Erica's a somewhat petite woman, she's not exactly a midget but she's not tall. Last time she checked, which was when she was twenty-two, she was 5'2 and she's pretty sure that she didn't grow much since then. Her build is a bit on the heavier side but she's managed to stay somewhat fit from all the work and running around she does. She has neck length brown hair that's usually tied up and brown eyes. Erica's face is somewhat childish since she has round cheeks and a small chin.


It was dark, there were no sightings of any stars in the sky meaning either it was going to rain or the earth's pollution level has skyrocketed. The empty streets were dimly lit, two streetlights down was a light that seemed to be broken since it continually flickered on and off. It was a rather cold autumn night, the year was beginning to transition in winter. Everything outside seemed to be shivering from the weather, even the trees shook when the wind breezed by them. Some would find this scene calm and relaxing, she found it absolutely creepy.


Inside a somewhat rundown apartment building, in front of Room 206, was a woman celebrating her thirtieth birthday. By herself. She was balancing the small box of cake bought from the bakery that specialized in cakes near her workplace with her left hand. Using her free hand to reach down into the pocket of her mousy brown coat, she groaned when she realized that she had lost her keys. Checking her purse and the other pocket of her coat, the woman kicked the door of her room in irritation before bending down and digging through the soil of the fern to find her spare key.


With each dig, dirt found its way in between her nails and dirtied her recently manicured hands. The woman grit her teeth together for a moment before letting out a tired sigh as she pulled the spare key out and dusted off the dirt. After unlocking her door, the woman trudged into the room that she called home and lazily slumped back against the door and closed it. Closing her eyes in attempt to regain some sort of energy, the woman let out a long sigh that sounded like she was about to fall asleep.


Her neck length hair resembled a bush, disheveled and messy. It was a rather beautiful shade of brown, russet brown, but due to the lack of loving care, it was a quite dry and had some split ends. Of course, the woman cut her own hair to save on money but that didn't mean she was a professional hair cutter, or even a stylist. She was simply an underpaid waitress who also worked another job at a grocery store on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Sure, over the years she had gotten more and more experienced with these things, she even tried cutting her own bangs when she was twenty-two. However, she continued to pull her short hair back in a high ponytail.


The strands in the front weren't able to be tied back so they were usually secured by bobby pins, or some sort of clip. But, looking at the woman now, everything seemed to be falling apart. She was still wearing the uniform she was to wear at the restaurant but they were crinkled and loosely tied together. In the dark of the night, the bright white of her polo shirt seemed almost gray and her blue skirt looked more limp than usual. The woman's makeup was more messier than usual, her eyeliner was smudged and dots of mascara were under her eyes. Everything all seemed to be even more exaggerated when the woman reached her arm up to turn on the lights.


It flickered for a moment but the room was still dark. The woman groaned once more as she made a mental note to replace the light bulb in the entrance. She kicked off her boots and shrugged her coat off of her shoulders. Pushing the loose strands out of her face, the woman took a deep breath when she felt them fall back onto her face again. After a few minutes had passed, the woman finally pushed herself up off the floor and leaned on the wall as she made her way through the kitchen to set the cake on the counter, past her bedroom to drop her coat and purse on the floor of the doorway, and into the bathroom so that she could turn on the working lights and stare at herself.


Tucking the loose strands of hair behind her ears, the woman pursed her semi-chapped lips and licked them to regain some sort of moisture. With her hair secured behind her, the woman turned on the tap of her sink and cupped her hands. Splashing the water in her face, the woman's make up got even worse. Her mascara was running down her cheeks and the smudged eyeliner made her dark circles more miserable. Looking up into the other pair of dark brown eyes, the corners of the woman's lips raised up in a small smile. Leaning on her hands, the woman leaned forward, her face only centimeters away from the mirror.


Parting her lips slightly, the woman whispered a few words. "Happy birthday, Erica. You're thirty now." After washing off all of the makeup on her face, Erica turned off the lights in her bathroom and made her way back into the kitchen. Sitting down on one of the chairs, Erica carefully lifted the top of the box and stared down at the writing on the cake. It said "Happy birthday, Erica!", the sad part of this cake is that said Erica was the one who ordered it herself and asked for the writing to be written on it. But, she was a simple woman and being able to eat cake pleased her in a way that wasn't truly happiness.


As she took out a fork and began to eat the cake by herself, Erica glanced out the window of her apartment, her gaze unfocused and blurred. She wasn't staring at anything in particular nor was she deeply thinking. She was simply eating the cake and staring out the window. The dim light made its way into her apartment, lighting it ever so slightly. It really was a rather uncomfortable feeling. But, this was how Erica Cale celebrated her birthday.


(@Nyte I'm sorry for the wait, I got distracted by a few other things.)

 

[Nyte]

Spoiler

Name: Robert (Rob) Moreno


age: 32


Appearance: Rob is more of a stout man than lean. His limbs are lined with harden muscle and his chest like a barrel. People normally associate him with heavy lifting or a fighter of some sort from his build. He has short, black, curly hair and dark eyes. Most of the time he is not clean shaven but rather has a perpetual 5 oclock shadow.


Name: Leo Sanders


Age: 29


Appearance: Leo is completely different from Rob in almost every way. He is tall and lean , resembling more of a surfer than a body builder. He has long blonde hair that goes just past his shoulders which he keeps tied back most of the time. His eyes are a gentle green and his face more angular than that of Rob's.

What had started off as a gentle breeze that occasionally rustled the branches of the neighborhood trees had taken a more violent turn. Piercing winds had whipped up with the on coming storm, and while one man stood on the sidewalk outside a local cafe he popped the collar of his leather jacket up to guard his face from the wind that stung his eyes and cheeks. The cafe he stood just outside of looked warm and inviting as they had a small fireplace lit in the back of the room to keep their patrons warm. Several couples sat at small tables laughing and smiling at each other. Rob shook his head at the sight. "Bunch of love sick fools." He thought out loud to himself. "Where the hell is he?" Looking down the street Rob scrutinized every vehicle that drove past him heading north, and with each passing car he got more frustrated.


The wind picked up in a sudden gust that almost took the wide brimmed hat he was wearing off his head. Using his left hand he held onto his hat and shoved his right hand into the pocket of his coat to fish out a cell phone. Just as he flipped it open to make a call a black Nissan pulled up to the curb in front of him and stopped. The window rolled down enough that Rob could just barely see the driver's eyes. "You look cold." The man told him.


"Yeah, thanks to you." Rob retorted and made his way around the front of the car and to the passenger door. Once he was inside the car he gave a slight shiver. "The Winter queen is getting started a little early isn't she? It's still fall and I've already busted out my leather." Rob complained.


"Ah so what? As soon as we find the girl we get to take her back and you can sit next to your fireplace and banish the cold all you want." The driver of the vehicle was Leo, Rob's companion. His blonde hair was tied back with a bit of leather cord and he wore a light colored button up shirt, grey it looked like with the feint lighting of the street lamps.


After Leo had pulled back into the main flow of traffic on the road, and driven for several blocks, he cleared his throat. "Look, I'm sorry. Human don't like to rent out cars without having six different forms of identification and three ways to get money from you." Leo said as he turned left with a protected arrow onto a residential street.


"I'm not mad about the cold. I'm just thinking. How come we haven't found her? I mean she is a very powerful being reincarnated into a human body. I would have thought we'd be able to sense her by now." Rob crossed his arms and sighed as he looked out the tinted window to the dim houses that passed them by.


"Yeah, well maybe we got bad intel." Leo offered. "But this is a good sized town and we've only been here three days. We still got time." They drove all the way through the neighborhood and out onto another main road with slightly more traffic. "She'd be thirty today." Leo said after several minutes of silence.


"Yeah? and I'm over 2000 years old." Rob snapped. "What difference does it make?"


"I'm just saying. Stating a fact." Leo was the more gentle of the two, and never angered quite as easily as Rob did. Their destination was a small office building that had recently been for rent until they had showed up in town. Neither of them wanted to lease a house, apartment, or hotel since that meant lots of other people would be nearby. With an office space they were pretty much alone at night and they could practice their divination and other magics in secret.


Both men exited the car, that they parked just in front of the front door of their new "office", and were about to go inside when a woman from the next door bakery exited her shop for the night. "Oh, poor girl. I hope she didn't buy that cake for herself. She looked like she needed a good hot meal and a nice soak in a bubble bath." Both men had stopped to listen to the old woman talk to herself.


"Ma'am?" Leo spoke up. "Is everything alright?" He pretended to be concerned.


The woman, who had thick rimmed glasses and more just a little to much pink blush on her wrinkled face, smiled at the men when she turned to see who had spoken up. "Oh, ignore me. I was just talking to myself. There was a young woman who came in to pick up a little birthday cake who looked like she needed a little love is all." She made a waving gesture. "It's just the grandmother in me is all." The woman turned to head to her own car parked in front of her shop.


"A birthday cake, hmm?" Leo commented quietly to Rob.


Rob rolled his eyes and sighed as he unlocked their door and pushed it open. "Yeah yeah, we'll check it out."


Later that night the men were standing outside the bakery and while Leo watched for approaching cars Rob slipped a piece of folded paper underneath the door. "Surrexit ergo, et revelabit" he whispered. Suddenly the paper sprung up and started to twist on itself until it had completely torn itself apart and into tiny pieces. The small pile of paper then began to swirl up in a non-existent wind on the inside of the shop and formed the figure of a woman. The figure walked to the counter and spoke to an invisible person behind the counter and then picked up an invisible box. "It's her." Rob said. "I worked the spell to only attached to the essence of a person with an old soul like ours."


The paper figure then turned to leave the shop and when it reached the door the paper simply went back underneath and then reformed to continue walking down the sidewalk. The men followed the figure until it reached a small apartment with the number 206 on the door. They watched as the figure dug something out of the dirt next to the door and fall to the floor as the spell ended and the paper blew away in the breeze.


"Well we found her. Now how do we tell her who we are?" Leo asked as he shrugged and shoved his hands in his jean pockets.

 

[Sen Pai]

Cake. It’s not the best choice for dinner. In fact, one would be better off consuming a balanced meal instead of a bakery bought pastry. However, this is Erica Cale we’re talking about; she didn’t choose the gangster life. The gangster life chose her.


“Urgh..!” Tripping over her own feet, Erica flopped onto her sofa, burying her face into the soft, cushiony, velvet pillows that she had bought from Home Outfitters for five dollars each. It was quite a good deal if Erica had to say so herself. Of course, she decided to return the soap dispenser she bought a day or two later since she didn’t think she really needed it. It was so cute though, with see through polka dots and a pink background.


Erica’s apartment was decorated with almost all the colours of the rainbow. Most of the items that she had were bought from sales or with some sort of coupon. It was rather saddening at times to know that she had to take advantage of sales and coupons if she ever wanted to buy something nice for herself but Erica would always counter that by telling herself that it was just because she was frugal. But then she would wonder why she always ended up binge shopping when she got her paycheck.


In every room of the apartment, the walls all had the same colour; an old and faded beige. However, in her bedroom, the wall on the left of her window was messily painted a spring green. It was a constant reminder of Erica’s failed home project of repainting her apartment. There were even a few splatters on the polished wood floor where the paint had dripped and fallen where there was no covering. The layers weren’t exactly even but if you just quickly glanced at the wall, the colour was quite nice.


Everything was so unfinished, from the decorating, to the half-finished recipe on the kitchen counter, to the mismatched curtains. But, some way, somehow, they all fit together to create something that was similar to a Pablo Picasso piece. The different shapes and colours all seemed to create a cozy and artistic feeling. If only the only lookers knew that it really was just the placing of a woman who had to live off sales and coupons then would go binge shopping when her paycheck would come along.


Hugging one of the five dollar pillows to her chest, Erica flipped around and laid on her back. Staring up at the ceiling of her apartment, she cringed a little when she saw the dent where she had carelessly lifted a metal ladder while she was fixing a light bulb. It ended up making a dent in her ceiling and disturbing the family of three that lived a floor above her. She got a rather angry and tired lecture from the landlady after that. But that was four years ago when she first rented out the apartment.


This apartment held so many memories for Erica, she had a routine of reminiscing about the past when it was her birthday or when she had free time and had nothing to do. After awhile of doing it, Erica found that looking back at how long she had been living in this apartment, she found herself quite lonely. It made her want to move out but she didn’t have the savings or resources to do so. It just..made her sick to her stomach.


Covering her mouth and turning to the side, Erica gulped back her so called dinner and took a deep breath. “That was a close one.” Glancing at the half eaten cake, Erica felt somewhat guilty for buying and eating that cake from the bakery. Maybe she should have at least bought some instant cup noodles to eat but that wasn’t proper birthday food. Then again, cake was proper food, period. Feeling her stomach churn again, Erica decided not to take any risks. She got up and ran barefoot towards her kitchen sink while covering her mouth with her hand.


Grabbing the sides of her sink, Erica leaned forward as she felt her dinner work its way up her esophagus, out her mouth, and into the stainless steel sink. Squeezing her eyes closed and scrunching up her nose, Erica gagged a bit before turning on the tap and allowing the water to wash away the puke. Cupping her hands underneath the flow of the water, Erica washed her mouth and gurgled some of the water in attempt to get rid of the nasty aftertaste of puking. However, even if she did that, she still felt a little gross from puking.


Turning off the tap, Erica scratched the back of her foot and then made her way over to the kitchen island. Taking a seat on the stool, she leaned on her elbows and held her head in her hands. Pursing her lips and licking them to regain the moisture that she had lost from puking, Erica frowned and pondered upon the possibility of ordering take out for her birthday dinner. Or breakfast. She hadn’t checked the time when she arrived home but Erica assumed that it was pretty late.


Take out was appropriate birthday food, Erica remembered a few times when she and her mother had gone out especially for her birthday and ordered Chinese food instead of going to a restaurant to eat. She was always told that you had to treat yourself on your birthday, or at least your mother for giving birth to you. It was a celebration of being able to survive another year of life. A milestone in which you lived another year. It was a tradition in her family where on someone’s birthday, they got to choose what the family would do and where they would eat.


Without thinking, Erica had already grabbed her home phone and dialed the pizza shop number that she had memorized. They had a twenty percent off offer for birthdays. She held the phone to her ear as she waited. When she heard the usual greeting and “what can I get for you?”, Erica blurted out her order without thinking it through once again. It seemed this whole thing was quite regular to Erica. She even had her order memorized down to the last syllable.


“I’d like a deluxe pizza with the crust stuffed with cheese. No pineapples, green peppers, or olives please.” Erica had to take a little breath before continuing with her order. “With fries on the side, in fact, double the fries. Make sure to add extra ketchup packets. I also want a cup of jalapenos and banana peppers. As for a drink, throw in a small Sprite please.” Playing around with the wallet in her hands, Erica impatiently bit her lip when she heard her stomach growl.


It seemed like it was demanding food and Erica was wise enough to bend to that demand. Her appetite was quite scary when the circumstances allowed it to be. After telling the employee on the other side of the phone her address, Erica waited a few moments then said goodbye and immediately hung up. Then she just sat there, focused on the clock to her right as if it was the prey and she was the predator. Her pupils seemed to dilate during the two minutes she sat there.


Unable to wait any longer, Erica decided that she’d just wait at the door for the pizza. With her wallet in her hand, Erica hurried over to the ebony door and reached for the doorknob. Twisting it and opening the door, Erica found herself staring up at two strangers. Her mind went blank for a moment when she saw the two men and she slammed the door in their faces. With her back pressed against the door, it seemed that Erica had a miniature debate with herself in less than ten seconds.


“Who are they?”


“What do they want?”


“Are they the delivery guys for the pizza?”


“Where’s my pizza?”


“That doesn’t matter, they’re hot.”


“I want my pizza!”


“Maybe they’re lost? We should help them out.”


“But my pizza!”


“That’s the most logical route to take so we shall go with that one.”


“Agreed. All in favour?”


“Aye.”


“Aye.”


“But my pizz--”


“Meeting adjourned.”


Opening the door once more and looking up at the two men, Erica’s eyebrows rose as she smiled nervously. “Sorry 'bout that, I, uh, my refrigerator was running." Coughing a little, Erica wiped her sweaty palms on the cloth of her skirt. "Can I help you?” She wasn’t exactly sure what these people wanted but Erica assumed that they just got the wrong door. There were plenty of people in this apartment building, it’s very likely that visitors would get the wrong door.

 

[Nyte]

"Hey, my job was to find her and bring her back, not explain everything." Rob crossed his arms over his broad chest in an almost pouting manner. "This is not what my magic needs to be used for. I'm not a baby sitter and I'm not a hound to be sent to fetch lost things or people.


“Oh stop with your complaining.” Leo rolled his eyes. “We both know we had no choice in the matter and there’s no use in complaining every step of the way. Man up and let’s get the job done.”


“Well..” Rob started just as the door to the apartment opened. Both men looked at the woman that stood before them. She was obviously surprised to see two men standing at her door and by the looks of it hadn’t been expecting visitors. Her crumpled clothing and messy hair spoke for itself of the hard night she had been having. “Um..” Rob started again only to have the door slammed shut in his face.


Both men jumped slightly when the door shut and they looked to each other with expressions that read what do we do now?


“Knock.” Rob whispered and gestured to the door. “You’re the sociable one.” Rob was still wearing his wide brimmed hat and leather coat which he adjusted to smooth out the material so he was more presentable the next time the door opened.


Leo, clearly annoyed, sighed and smoothed back his hair that was still in a low ponytail and stepped up to the door. He raised his hand to knock just as the door opened once more, and the woman said something about a refrigerator running.


Rob, slightly behind Leo stifled a laugh by pretending to cough into his hand and turned his head to hide his amused smile.


Leo cleared his throat after shooting Rob a quick glare. “Um, yes..” he paused “we’re sorry for the late night intrusion. We are.. looking for a friend.. but I’m afraid this friend wouldn’t recognize us and us her. Might I ask your name?” Leo knew he came off as a super creeper with the way he worded himself, and mentally cursed at himself for sounding like a fool.


Behind Leo Rob’s shoulders were shaking slightly as he tried not to laugh as Leo fumbled to try and talk to the woman. He had his head down and his hand covering his mouth behind his hat.

 

[Sen Pai]

Erica's eyes flickered over to the man behind the blonde in front of her when he coughed and she pursed her lips for a moment. They both seemed to be dressing in a very stereo typically suspicious way, it almost made Erica feel like she was on some sort of new prank television show. Or they were trying to discreetly mug her, but the walls in this apartment building weren't exactly soundproof, Erica was sure that her scream would attract at least a few people on her floor.


The man she was staring at was wearing a very shady looking hat and coat, but that could easily be because of the cold autumn-winter weather that was raging around outside. Erica had to admit that everyone looked pretty scary when they wore their bulky jackets and wind breaking hats. Even she got accused for stealing something when walking out of a corner store with her jacket on. However, Erica couldn’t help but wonder who these people were.


Not that it really mattered, she just had to direct to whatever room they were looking for, or whoever they were looking for. Perhaps they were in an entirely different apartment building? Or maybe they weren’t even supposed to be in this part of the city? Erica remembered that she got lost a few times, okay, maybe more than a few times, when she first came to this city eight years ago.


However, when the taller man with the long blonde hair asked for her name, Erica frowned and stopped herself from stepping back and closing the door on the two men. It would have been better if they introduced themselves before asking for her name but Erica couldn’t help but wonder if this was just some sort of new way to pick up women for extremely desperate men. She furrowed her eyebrows together and looked at both of the men before answering.


Wait. It’s not a very good idea to tell a complete stranger your name. “My name’s Erica,” Ah, too late. “And you are?” Gripping her door a little tighter, she was ready to slam and lock the door the moment there was any sign of threat. Good thing 911 only had three numbers to dial. Now, what were those three numbers again? Note the sarcasm there. However, Erica did reach for her mobile as discreetly as possible but then realized that it was in her bag.


“What’s the name of the person you are looking for?” Erica hoped that the girl, since the taller man referred to the person they were looking for as female, wasn’t being tracked down or involved with some sort of business with these two. Since she was pretty confident with her involvement with the people that lived in her apartment building, Erica had a general idea of who lived where. However, Erica was a little hesitant to give these people directions. But Erica often gave others the benefit of the doubt but she couldn't shake off the feeling that she was just stepping into a hole that led to a furnace.

 

[Nyte]

Leo wanted to reach back and give Rob a good hard hit to the shoulder to shut him up, but instead he offered the woman his most charming smile. “Erica, it’s very nice to make your acquaintance. My name is Leo, and my counterpart back here is Rob.” He gestured back to the man behind him and bowed his head slightly in a formal greeting.” While he introduced them Leo scrambled for words that would explain their lack of knowledge of the woman they were searching for. What made it even harder was trying to explain that she was the one they had wanted to find. “It’s a bit difficult to explain, and I’m afraid it might be a little hard to swallow, you see..”


Rob sighed and stepped up next to Leo on the porch. “Oh for christ’s sake. We are the owners of a new shop that just opened up a little ways down the street from here.” He reached into an inside pocket on his jacket and pulled out a slightly crumpled business card and handed to her.


The card was red with black lettering in a script font, and silver trim that gleamed slightly in the light could be seen on the border. It read:

“Wizards for Hire

Fortune telling, Incantations, and

other magical needs

Leo Sanders and Robert Moreno

(651)796-8276”​

“The reason we’re here is because we believe that someone, you to be precise, are in danger and we’ve come to offer our assistance.” Rob spoke quickly and directly. His amused smile faded away to that of a more serious expression. “My friend here believes in a gentle approach, but I believe that people just want to hear the truth and beating around the bush has never been my strong point.”


Leo looked almost dumbstruck as he listened to Rob blurt out a half truth of reasoning for why they were on her doorstep at such an hour, but the damage had been done and he just hoped that Erica would be able to process the information well enough to not slam the door on them again.

 

[Sen Pai]

Smiling awkwardly back at the men whose names were supposedly Leo and Rob, Erica relaxed her grip on her door slightly, but still kept a hand on it just in case. She intently watched the scene play out before her, listening to the words that Leo spoke and how he seemed to not be sure about exactly who he was looking for. This reminded Erica of one of those dramas that she had just started watching on the television. It was about a man whose wife left him along with their unborn child. Twenty-four years later, the man is searching for his child, with only the knowledge of her having blonde hair, grey-blue eyes, and a star shaped birthmark on her forehead.


Erica felt her lips turn down to form a frown when Leo mentioned that it would be rather difficult to explain. What did he mean? Erica wasn’t exactly sure but this helping out was taking a little too much of her time. However, she did her best to stay patient and help these two men. She was still waiting for her pizza after all. Then again, it’s not like the pizza guy was just going to suddenly appear after she ordered it. Erica was sure that the drive from the store to the apartment was at least five minutes. Hopefully the pizza wasn’t cold by the time she was able to eat it.


When the other man – Rob, was it? – stepped up and took the stage, Erica found herself holding a very crumpled up card that read something along the lines of magic and wizards. She raised an eyebrow at the content of the cards. Were these two men some sort of street magicians that were performing door to door to build up publicity? Were they going to have a woman suddenly appear like magic as their trick? Erica read over the card and then found herself become dumbfounded at Rob’s words.


“What do you mean I’m in danger?” Feeling a little scared, Erica took a small step back and narrowed the gap between the door and the door frame. These two were insane, was she in some sort of prank? Well, if she was going to be on television, might as well go along with the little game, right? But, Erica had a gut feeling due to Rob’s grave expression that none of this was a joke and that they were not kidding. A shiver ran down her spine as an eerie silence fell over the three people for a moment.


Finally, the uncomfortable silence was broken. Erica began to chuckle nervously. With her free hand, she pushed her hair out of her face and leaned on the door frame. Covering her eyes with her hand and looking down at the ground, Erica’s tense chuckle began to grow into an all out laughter of disbelief. She tried to stop herself by covering her mouth with a hand but small giggles that screamed “I don’t believe these people” escaped from her lips.


In a few seconds, Erica was bent over, one arm around her stomach and the other steadying herself with the door frame, her laughter brought tears to her eyes as she forced herself to stand up properly. “Okay, okay, you got me.” Erica waved off the two men and stifled her loud laughter into small little giggles. Was this some sort of birthday prank that the other people who lived in the apartment are playing on her? “Now, where are the cameras?” It was obvious that Erica didn’t believe any of the crap this “Rob” was saying but there was a part of her that was a little scared with what was happening.

 

[Nyte]

Leo felt a pit in his stomach grow when Erica took a step away from them. She hadn’t accepted it well, and now they were going to have to back pedal to try and gain some sort of trust. Even if it was only enough to continue to talk to them. He was about to try to summon up some defense or excuse, anything to keep her talking when she started to laugh. Leo was, yet again, knocked off balance and left speechless.


“I’m sorry. Did I say something funny?” Rob asked, slightly offended by her finding humor in his seriousness. “Cameras?!” He asked his voice rising slightly from outrage. “Now you listen..” He raised his hand and jabbed a finger at her.


Leo put his hand on top of Rob’s and forced him lower his hand again. “Back off.” He mumbled under his breath to Rob.


Rob’s expression changed again, twisting into a mixture of anger and exasperation. He folded his arms across his chest again and turned away from Erica to face the road behind them.


“I’m sorry, again, but I did say that it’s difficult to explain and believe.” Leo had his hands in front of him almost in a begging manner as to ask for forgiveness. He swallowed as his eyes glanced down for a moment as he thought about what to say next. He could simply whip up a small spell to show they magic was real, but that would probably have the opposite of the desired effect. “This is not a prank, and if it were I would think it would be a very bad one at that.” He paused and sighed with a smile. “You know what. You keep that card and we’ll just go. If you ever feel threatened by anything or anyone you can just call us and we’ll see what we can do for you. Our shop is located next to the bakery you bought your birthday cake from, and don’t ask how I know that because you wouldn’t believe me.” With that he gave her another small bow of his head and a smile.


Turning back to Rob he gave him a good shove in the back and started him back down the sidewalk. “This all your fault. You just can’t help yourself can you?” Leo’s voice was hushed and strained as the two men walked away from Erica’s door.

 

[Sen Pai]

Erica watched the scene play before her with slight amusement. Who did they think she was? A gullible child? Folding her arms over her chest and nonchalantly leaning on the frame of her doorway, Erica's eyebrows raised up in surprise when Rob stuck a finger at her. It took her a few moments to process the words that he was yelling at her, during that time her eyebrows remained up in shock. She had to give them props for staying in character no matter what but Erica wasn’t going to fall for it this time. Even if these two were such great actors, so great that a part of her almost believed them, Erica didn’t want to be conned by such people. Then again, she didn’t want to be conned, period.


Relaxing a bit when Leo placed his hand over Rob’s and whispered something into his ear, Erica found herself trying to listen in to what they were speaking to one another. She watched as Rob’s expression changed from one thing to another and then landing on something that seemed to be a mixture of irritation and indignation. Erica almost felt bad for him but then reminded herself that they were only actors trying to promote their shop. Then again, what she thought was the child in her believed them. After all, she was still holding onto their card in one hand.


Bringing her attention to Leo, Erica smiled and waved off his apologetic gesture as nothing. She listened to his reasoning and kept herself from chuckling when he made the statement about the bad prank. However, when Leo mentioned the bakery in which she bought her birthday cake from, the smile on her face disappeared. How did he know? It couldn’t have been a simple fluke. When Erica opened her mouth to ask how, she found herself absolutely speechless. Leo was right. Erica couldn’t believe him. Flabbergasted, Erica watched as the two men she had just met a few minutes ago walk away from her doorway.


What had just happened? Erica didn’t know. As their backs disappeared around the corner, Erica took a deep breath and then slowly closed her door. Locking it, Erica turned around and stared at her apartment. She moved towards her couch and then plopped down on it. Staring straight in front of her, Erica’s gaze was unfocused, blurred to the point of having problems making things out. Her mind was completely blank, she was carefully processing everything that had happened in only a few minutes.


The peace and quiet of her home didn’t seem as comforting as it used to be. Then, someone knocked on her door. Faster than you could say doctor, Erica was at the door, her hand on the doorknob. She took a deep breath in and the last thought that flashed through her mind was, “Am I really in danger?” And then she opened the door.

. . . . . . . . . . .

​

Erica stood in front of the so called “wizard shop”, her makeup neatly done and her short hair loose. Dressed in a comfy brown coat and worn down boots, Erica blew a strand of brown hair out of her face before pushing the door open and walking into the store. It wasn’t that she was in any danger, she was simply curious. In her tightly clenched hand was a crumpled up card that said something about wizards and the phone number 651-796-8276.

 

[Nyte]

Early the next morning, around dawn, Leo was wake and performing small cleaning tasks around the office. Rob and he maintained and professional environment in their office, using the back office as a makeshift bedroom, and Leo was a bit of a neat freak.


By opening time, 8 o'clock, rolled around the office had been dusted, re-organized, and vacuumed. Coffee was starting to brew on a small end table in the corner with the styrofoam cups all neatly stacked next to the coffee maker. Honestly it looked more like a private investigator's office than a couple of guys who claimed to be wizards. There were two solid wood desks on either side of the room, no computer sat at either, and a stack of files and papers in two separate baskets that said either "finished" or "pending". There was a white tile starting at the front of the shop, where guests had previously shopped for jewelry with the previous renters, and then the floor became a tan carpet. The walls were painted an eggshell white and had very little decor hung up. Leo, being a bit of a minimalist didn't see the point in covering the walls with paintings or posters.


Exactly five minutes before opening the coffee finished brewing and Rob came groggily dragging himself from the back room. He stretched and yawned and then let himself fall into the desk on the right side of the room. "You know you'll make a good wife someday." He teased as he looked about the clean room, the smell of pledge still hung in the air.


"Thanks, and maybe we'll keep you as a pet." Leo retorted as he poured himself a coffee and sipped it: black no sugar.


When the sound of a bell chimed, signaling a customer, both men looked to see who had entered. Silence fell over the office as they saw it was Erica who had entered. "Good morning." He offered.

 

[Sen Pai]

When Erica walked in, she was quite surprised at the decor, or lack of decor. The walls were a plain white and there was little to no decorations on them. It was quite different from her own cozy little apartment that was filled with knick knacks and art bought from garage sales. She almost got scared by the bell that rang throughout the store upon her entrance, her eyes widening in shock as she froze up for a moment. However, as Erica realized it was just a bell, she found herself staring at the two men who were at her door just the night before.


“G’morning.” Erica answered back, a little unsure with what she was doing. She didn’t know if she should approach or stand in front of the doorway. Erica gulped and fiddled around with the already bent card in her hands. Averting her eyes over to the side, Erica tried to find something to look at, anything really, but the minimal amount of decoration made it quite difficult. It wasn’t long until Erica was staring at the carpet floor as if it held all the answers to the questions of the universe. But, for some reason, no matter how hard she searched, Erica couldn’t find the answers to her own questions.


A minute or so had gone by with Erica simply staring at the floor, nervously playing with the card that Rob had given her. She spent that time having a mental talk with herself, unaware of the fact that she was taking quite a long time to speak and had been standing in front of the door for a few minutes now. Even though it was much warmer inside the store than outside in the harsh autumn wind, Erica pulled her coat closer to her and attempted to use her short brown hair as a scarf. After clearing her throat a few times, Erica finally opened her mouth to speak.


“Sorry for coming so, uh, early in the morning.” Running her right hand through her hair as a nervous reaction, Erica’s gaze began to scan the room as if she was admiring it when she was really trying to find something to look at. Throwing her hands in the pockets of her coat, Erica quickly glanced back to the busy street outside and then returned her attention to the two so-called wizards. The place they were in didn’t exactly look like a magic shop, Erica had initially assumed that the store they ran was some sort of shop where they sold those cheap magic tricks with the instructions on them. But, it looked somewhat like a scene in a police drama.


Trying to think of something to talk about, Erica stared up at the ceiling and nonchalantly leaned back, doing her best not to lose her balance and fall backwards. “So, uh, how’s business going?” Quickly, Erica moved her gaze around the room to quickly glance over the two men and then stare at some sort of decoration. “I’m not interrupting you two, am I?” Erica mentally scolded herself. She knew she should have come in the afternoon. Perhaps there would be some people in the shop during that time.

 

[Nyte]

As the men looked at Erica, and occasionally to each other it was plain to see her presence was a completely unexpected one. Leo simply watched in silence while sipping his coffee while he waited for Erica to announce why she had chosen to come to the shop. He wore a white shirt with the top few buttons undone exposing a muscular chest, and a pair of faded blue jeans with a pair of dark blue tennis shoes.


Rob was still sitting reclined in his chair at the desk. He no longer had his hat or coat on, and wore a black shirt with a pentagram shaped charm resting on his chest from a piece of leather cord around his neck. He wore dark jeans and black military style boots. His feet had been propped up on the desk until Erica had come in.


The moments of near motionless silence were broken when Rob got up from his chair and made his way over to where Leo was by the coffee pot. He pulled off two cups from the stack and filled both with the fresh coffee. Leo had gotten a Hazelnut brew rather than the normal stuff that Rob liked. He refrained from complaining about the coffee, making a mental note to harass Leo until he bought the correct stuff later.


When Erica asked about the business and if she was interrupting Rob scoffed. “No, you’re right on time, although we just didn’t know it yet.” He wore a polite smile and walked to hand her one of the two cups of coffee that he had poured. “There is dairy free creamer and sugar by Leo if you would like some.” He sipped his own drink. “It’s still early and coffee is always a necessity.” He winked at her and turned back to the office to return to his desk.


Leo cleared his throat. “Business is good, just starting out and all.” He made a beckoning motion for her to follow him as he rounded Rob’s desk to stand behind him. “Come have a seat.” There were two chairs for clients in front of each of the men’s desks. “What can we do for you? I’m sure you didn’t just come by to ask how we are doing. Did something happen?”

 

[Sen Pai]

“Oh, thank you.” Gladly taking a cup of coffee due to the fact that it was so early in the morning to go out, Erica drank it straight without sugar or creamer. Although she was used to drinking the coffee by itself, Erica didn’t add anything at first because she was a little nervous to approach the desk. So, she decided to use Leo’s invitation to her advantage, took a seat in one of the chairs, and added a few teaspoons of creamer into her coffee. However, hearing Leo’s questions, Erica almost choked on her coffee.


“No, nothing happened.” Erica exclaimed as she put her hands up in front of her. Sure, her reaction could be deemed a little suspicious but Erica turned her head to the side and allowed her hair to cover her from as she coughed into her shoulder. The hands that were wrapped around the warm coffee mug were a little shaky so Erica placed the mug down on her lap, a surface that was a little to stable than her hands.


Glancing back and forth between Rob and Leo, Erica slouched a little and then brought the coffee mug up to her lips to take a few sips. The coffee was still rather hot but due to Erica’s experience of chugging down bitter coffee and heading out the door, she dealt with it. There was a bitter taste in Erica’s mouth, even if she did add a few teaspoons of creamer, but that was when Erica realized that it wasn’t the coffee that left such a taste.


“Last night, I ordered a box of pizza.” All for myself. But Erica was going to add that in there. She seemed to be a little shaken up, perhaps even anxious or paranoid. “I answered the door a second time a minute or two after you two had left.” Erica went on with her little story, no longer taking any sips of her drink. She avoided eye contact with any of the two “wizards” and simply stared down at her coffee. “There wasn’t anything unusual, I paid the man, he handed me the pizza and left. However...”


Trailing off, Erica frowned. They wouldn’t believe her. “I seemed to have gotten ripped off because I gave him a twenty dollar bill when it was only ten dollars.” Erica ran her hand through her hair again and beamed sheepishly. The sudden change in the mood was rather abrupt but Erica pulled off the idiot look quite well for a now thirty year old woman. But, even if she did lie to the world, there was no point in telling herself that the writing in the box was a simple prank. Who would take such a shocking threat as a prank?

 

[Nyte]

While Erica composed herself and tried to find her center also watched and sipped his coffee casually. His blonde hair, usually tied back, was free and hanging over his shoulders while framing his face. He set the cup on the desk, pulled a leather cord from his pocket, and tied back his hair. Leo was patient and could wait as long as needed for Erica to gather her thoughts.


Rob on the other hand was not patient. He had the beginnings of an irritated look on his face as he watched the girl before them. While they waited he tapped a pen against the wood of the desk. When Erica stated that she had been shorted ten dollars from the delivery man Rob raised one eye brow. "You think we came to warn you about a delivery guy who keeps the change?"


"Let her explain. I'm sure she has a better reason than that." Leo offered and gestured for her to keep talking.

 

[Sen Pai]

A flush of embarrassing red dusted across Erica’s cheeks when she heard Rob’s comment. She wasn’t this bad of a liar. She had entered the store with the purpose to ask these two so-called wizards and had chickened out at the last minute. Erica frowned and shrunk back. If she wasn’t willing to ask for help, her situation would not get any better. “Ah, well. I did get ripped off.” Erica forced herself to stay on topic, if she distracted herself, she would only end up with absolutely nothing gotten done and her situation would only worsen.


“There seemed to be some sort of writing inside the box,” Erica mumbled, her thoughts moving towards the image of the empty box with the writing inside of it. She remembered quickly reading over the letters that formed what seemed to be words and then watching as the writing disappeared as if it was never there. “I don’t remember what it said, I can see the letters in my head but I can’t make out any words or meaning in them.” Biting her lower lip, Erica let out a sigh and figuratively melted in the seat.


Although her posture was very lax and lazy, Erica’s eyes were focused though at the same time distant. She finally remembered to take a sip of her coffee and chugged the rest of the drink down. “That night I, something happened.” Erica didn’t know how she could possibly explain such an experience through words. She didn’t have anyone else she could talk to about it either. The only people that Erica had even a small glimmer of hope that they would not consider her as insane were the two strange men that had shown up in front of her door just the night before.


“It was something similar to sleep paralysis but at the same time, it was different...” Erica trailed off, her voice becoming quieter as she recalled what she had seen while her body was completely frozen. “My first time experiencing sleep paralysis was when I was fifteen. A friend of mine had told me about it one night and I fell asleep thinking about it.” She quickly mentioned as she tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear. “I’ve had multiple experiences with sleep paralysis as well as lucid dreaming but I knew immediately that this was different.” Erica pushed herself up into a more proper position with her arms and then folded her hands on her lap.


Moving her gaze from the empty mug of coffee to stare at Rob, Erica narrowed her eyes and then frowned. “Although sleep paralysis is only hallucinations, this...vision seemed so real.” Taking a deep breath, Erica stared back down at her lap and continued speaking. “Normally, sleep paralysis takes the background of the place where you fell asleep but during this experience, I was in an area where I have never been.” Nodding to reassure herself that she had never been to the place that she had seen in her dream, Erica sighed and took a deep breath.


“It was in some sort of ruin,” Erica began, furrowing her eyebrows to concentrate and remember what the scene had looked like. “The grass was dried up and dying, there were large rocks that formed some sort of ritualistic area.” Reaching into her bag, Erica pulled up a very detailed drawing of the ruins but even if it was detailed, Erica’s art skills weren’t exactly considered great. “I did some research when I woke up, apparently it’s some sort of Scottish rock circle.” Spreading the multiple drawings of the rock circle, Erica quickly pulled her eyes away from the drawings and continued on.


“You know, many interesting things happened in that dream,” Could such a realistic experience really be just a hallucination? “But the most terrifying part of it all was that I couldn’t move.” Erica held tightly onto her bag and wrapped her arms around it as if it would provide her some sort of comfort. “I watched a woman die and I couldn’t even close my eyes.” She suddenly stopped speaking to breath and calm herself down. “That’s how I knew it was not sleep paralysis. You can always close your eyes if it’s sleep paralysis.” And then she stared straight into the two men's eyes, hopefully expecting an answer of some sorts.

 

[Nyte]

When Erica retorted to Rob's remark he snorted and smirked slightly in amusement, but when she mentioned writing in the box, her lack of ability to read to words, and them disappearing his smirk fell to an expression of worry. Looking up at Leo he saw that he had a similar expression on his face. Both men, who had seemed casual and calm changed the air around them to a more serious and slightly worried aura.


Incantations that weren't meant to be traced or discovered were often delivered in such ways. Not pizza boxes, some something that the intended recipient would pick up unknowingly and after they read it and the magic took it's hold the words would disappear. Of course a variety of things could be done with such a method and when Erica started to talk of sleep paralysis Leo set his cup on the desk hurried over to his desk, covering the distance in three strides, and gathered a notepad and pen from one of the drawers. As Erica talked he scribbled down notes making sure to catch certain phrases or words that caught his attention.


When Erica produced a drawing of what she saw Rob slid the paper towards him and glanced over each scene. He had seen this place before and he didn't like it last time he was there. As old memories surfaced a chill ran down his spine and he instantly wanted his thick leather jacket again.


When Erica had concluded her story Leo looked up from his notes and with an apologetic look he sighed. "I'm sorry Erica, without knowing exactly what was written on the box I can't tell you what it was intended to do exactly, but it sounds like someone sent you a threat."


Rob nodded. "I agree. From the sound of it they showed you a very old event and might be promising that it'll happen again." Looking away from Erica the men looked at the drawings she had provided and touched each picture for several seconds. After they had analyzed each picture the glanced up and then began to speak in Latin. Their words, even though they were sure she couldn't understand them, were hushed and spoken quickly.


They seemed at first to be discussing the pictures but then Rob's voice elevated to something that resembled a disagreement which was re-enforced when he shook his head. Leo pointed at one picture in particular. It was a point of view from the edge of the circle looking in, and after several long moments Rob nodded and they both looked up to Erica with a smile.


"Not to worry, but we knew where this place is. We've both been there although not I a a very long time." Leo said with a sense of reassurance. "It seems the letters on the box were intended to give you a message, and your experience last night was most likely not sleep paralysis."


Rob reached into the right side of his desk, whispered something to himself, and then pulled out a photograph of the circle of stones that Erica had seen. Surrounding it was a thick forest of green with red flowers dotting the ground, and in the very center of the circle there was a stone alter. "Is this the place you saw?" He asked as he handed her the photo.

 

[Sen Pai]

“I'm sorry Erica, without knowing exactly what was written on the box I can't tell you what it was intended to do exactly, but it sounds like someone sent you a threat.”


Those words were the daggers that destroyed Erica’s hope of figuring out what exactly had happened the night she had met the two men. She felt as if her lungs had collapsed and she was unable to breath, Erica’s face paled as she processed the words in her head over and over again. Having forgotten to breathe, Erica felt herself go lightheaded, Leo’s words began to mix up in her brain, causing Erica to become confused. Finally, she hung her head and stared down blankly at the empty cup of coffee. Her breathing was now shallow but at least she was breathing again. Holding her face in her hands, Erica grimaced and her tight hold on her bag loosened.


“I agree. From the sound of it they showed you a very old event and might be promising that it'll happen again.” Rob nodded and it didn’t make Erica feel any better.


Continuing to cover her face, Erica furrowed her eyebrows in exhaustion, trying her best to focus on the reality before her rather than fading into her mind for a few moments. She barely even noticed Leo and Rob speaking in hushed tones, their foreign words became ambient noises as Erica stared off into space, looking at nothing in particular, her expression was similar to the expression of dumbfoundedness. What was she going to do now? She wasn’t able to make out what the words had said. The letters and spacing formed sentences after sentences and even though Erica did read what it said, her mind was unable to process what they had meant.


When both Rob and Leo looked up at Erica with a smile on their faces, Erica snapped out of her stupor and quickly brought her attention to them. There was a slight hint of hope in her eyes. In the back of her head, Erica wondered if they had come up with a solution. She didn’t care if it was as insane as a ritual that she had to perform every night before she went to sleep, she just wanted a solution. Erica raised an eyebrow when Leo said that they had been there before, she wanted to know more. She was often told by her father that humans feared the unknown, which is why they craved knowledge so much. Erica had initially had put her trust in science to solve whatever was happening to her but then she knew that they would not believe her. So, she decided that she would take anything the world would give her.


A photograph? Erica stared down at the picture that Rob had handed her and pursed her lips. It definitely did look like the scene she had seen in her dream. Of course, time had gotten to the ruins and the once dead grass and nature had prospered and spread across the snapshot. But the very design and architecture of the stones were the exact same as the ones she had seen while in a state similar to sleep paralysis. There were a few chips and nooks in the stones that she had not recognized before but Erica could tell that it was just from the wearing down of nature that formed them. Erica trailed her fingertip over the photo, squinting her eyes to take in as much detail as she possibly could before slowly nodding.


“Yeah,” Erica placed the photograph on the table and after a moment, tore her eyes away from it and glanced at Leo and Rob. “I saw something blurry in the middle of the circle but,” She started to form the image of the altar in her mind, allowing her eyes to flutter closed as she pondered upon the diluted shape of the object that stood in the middle of the circle. “It may have been that altar.” Staring up at the ceiling, Erica stretched her arms up in the air before letting them fall limp onto her lap. It was rather curious to Erica. The whole experience for Erica was so detailed, clear, everything from the feel of the grass underneath her feet to the unsteady wind from the east, even the smell of fire was embedded into her mind.


But the object in the middle of the rock circle was unnaturally blurred. It was as if someone had thrown water on paint to make it drip and become incomprehensible to those who look at it. Erica fiddled around with the hem of her blouse before looking up at Rob and Leo, waiting for them to say something. Anything. Erica didn't have any expectations. They say that one does not know what they want until they know what they can have.

 

[Nyte]

After Erica set the photograph on the table he swept it over to the side of the desk with the drawer and simply let it fall in and shut the drawer. He also gathered up the pictures Erica had drawn and stacked them neatly in the center of the desk top.


Leo walked around the desk to stand next to Erica and lean down next to her so that he was at eye level. He still held the notepad in his hand, the writing on the page was elegant script, even though it was his chicken scratch. Gently he put his arm around her and rub her shoulder gently. "Don't worry." He told her. "Nothing is going to happen to you." His voice was calm and he offered a small crooked smile for reassurance. "If you don't mind I would like to perform a divination for you. Though I would like to warn you it might be far more intense than what you are expecting."


He withdrew his arm and flipped to a clean sheet on his notepad. He drew a nearly perfect circle and wrote her name in the middle. Around the edges of the circle he wrote several symbols that resembled Egyptian hieroglyphs but flower more rather than the blocky symbols.


Rob was opening and closing drawers in his desk, apparently looking for something. With a frustrated with he closed the last drawer and stood up to look around the room. When his eyes landed on a small black box sitting on a shelf they had in the back of the room made a small pointing gesture to it and strode over to retrieve it. Box in hand he returned to the desk and opened it. Inside was a curious assort of objects. A delicate silver ring that looked to have a sapphire set in it, an old gold coin that looked as if it belonged in a pirate's gold chest, and two candles about four inches tall each, one black and the other white. The white candle wider than the black. Rob set the white candle in front of Erica, the ring to the left of her stack of drawing, the coin to the right of the stack, and the black candle in front of him. Once everything was in its place he returned to sitting in his chair and rubbed his hand across his five o'clock shadow.


Once Leo had finished his drawing he tore it from the book and handed to Erica. "Our divination spell is not like the new age stuff teenagers are trying in dark rooms and basements. There once was a time when humans and other creatures coexisted in a world of magic. Spells cast were done with a purpose, whether that be something simple and helpful or powerful and dangerous. There is no such thing as dark magic, only dark users and because of those individuals many elders agreed long ago that humans no longer have access to magic. They were sought out and killed for using and eventually humans sought and hunted each other. Like the event of the Salem witch trials." He turned and tossed the notebook and pen back onto his desk. "This is one of those spells of old. It will take you back to that circle and show us what you saw." He put his knuckles against the top of the desk and leaned on his arms. "If you agree just burn that note in the fire of the candle in front of you."


As if on que the two candles suddenly sparked and fizzled into a small flame on their wicks. Rob was leaning back in his chair watching Erica's every move.


Neither man knew what they would experience, they could guess but bringing such an event back to life in their memories was going to be a shock to both of them.

 

[Sen Pai]

Erica’s gaze followed Rob as he slid the photograph into the drawer of his desk and then neatly organized the papers that she had worked on for hours, scratching the papers with her pencil roughly with the scene so clear in her mind. With the papers stacked in the middle of the desk, Erica tore her eyes away from the drawings and then glanced up at Leo. She almost felt calm when the blonde man gave her such comforting gestures but Erica’s heart rate picked up once more when Leo mentioned something about divination. Erica’s body stiffened and the very little calm that she felt a few moments ago was gone in only mere seconds.


She had heard of divination before. Erica recalled a time when she was still in high school, she and her boyfriend of that time, Freddy Sharp, had decided to try out the craze for couples. They had entered the dark tent of the gypsy and asked for a reading of their relationship in the future. The gypsy had said that they were very much in love, and they were, but there would be trials in the future that would test their trust in one another. Erica and Freddy had left the tent, confident in the idea that they would be together forever. It seemed that that gypsy wasn’t a fake. Freddy broke up with Erica a year or so later due to the fact that there were so many secrets that the other did not know.


The idea of divination scared Erica. It wasn’t the kind of fear that made you pee your pants or scream in horror, but it was the anxious feeling of treading through a forest, blindfolded. It was the fear of the unknown. She didn’t really want to agree to such an act but if divination was the only way for Leo and Rob to see what she saw and deduce what was going on, then Erica was willing to do it, even if she wasn’t completely on the boat. From what Leo said, this sort of divination was not like the fortune telling that the gypsy gave her when she was only a lovesick seventeen year old.


Taking the piece of paper into her hands, Erica looked down at it and then realized that her hands were shaking feverishly. Holding her breath, Erica did her best to keep her hands from shaking so hard, not giving Leo her full attention. Looking up at the last moment, Erica’s gaze collided with Leo’s. Her eyes widened as if she was a deer in the headlights and she quickly glanced over at Rob only to bring her eyes down to the piece of paper. She traced her fingers on top of the circle but did not touch the writing. Instead, her fingers hovered just millimeters away from the paper.


What was she waiting for? Erica stared down at the letters in the middle of the circle that formed her name. She was able to read these letters, why was she unable to read the words that were written in the box? With a sudden burst of determination and somewhat shaky confidence, Erica stretched out her hand and lit the paper on fire. However, just before the flames caught onto the edge of the paper, Erica looked up and stared at both Rob and Leo. Yes, she was worried. Yes, she was afraid. But the want to get rid of the shadows that haunted her was so great that Erica did was willing to take part in this magic.


“I’m putting my faith in you two.” Erica said, her voice soft. It was at the last moment that the woman suddenly doubted her decision. But, it was too late and the fire had already eaten away at the paper.